


From The Records of Shield Animal Shelter

by Avengerz



Series: Snippets [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Fluff, Kittens, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 04:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5693881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avengerz/pseuds/Avengerz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snippets from an animal shelter AU I never finished</p><p> </p><p>  <b>Wherein Tony Stark rescues a kitten, makes some new friends, falls in love with a blonde Adonis, and wonders how this is his life.</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	From The Records of Shield Animal Shelter

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by some other authors who have done the same, I'm posting some of my uncompleted works. If there's enough interest or I get struck by inspiration, I may continue them. That being said, you can still read and enjoy them just fine, they just don't have a true conclusion.
> 
> Originally Written: November 17, 2015

It’s all Justin Hammer’s fault. Tony would like that to go on the official record, should there ever be one. If he hadn’t been such a weasley asshole at the gala, Tony wouldn’t have needed to drink as much as he did, and Pepper wouldn’t have sent him out on a walk to clear his head before his big speech. Tony does (reluctantly) concede that Hammer’s probably not the reason it started raining, but it doesn’t stop him from muttering curses towards the man under his breath as he pulls his jacket collar up in an unsuccessful attempt to keep out the slicing rain. He hates when it rains in New York; it always smells slightly off and the puddles he now has to walk through are absolutely filthy. Still cussing out Justin and thinking longingly on his warm Malibu mansion, Tony heads back towards the convention hall, cutting through filthy alleyways in an attempt to get out of the rain faster. He’s already resigned himself to the fact that his Italian leather loafers are doomed.

Tony’s just a few streets away when he hears it - a pitiful mewling sound, barely audible over the sound of rain and the occasional passing car. “Aw, hell,” Tony says aloud, then turns towards the sound.

Now, Tony would also like it to go on record that he’s not a good guy. He doesn’t help little old ladies cross the street, he doesn’t volunteer at soup kitchens, and he doesn’t climb trees to rescue kittens. But rescuing a sopping wet, pathetically mewling kitten from a filthy alley? Well, he’s not a complete monster.

“Here, kitty kitty kitty! Come here, kitty! Where are you?” The mewling pauses for a moment at his calls, then starts up again, almost loud enough to be called proper yowling. It’s also enough for Tony to trace the noise to its source - the few inches of empty space underneath a nearby dumpster. Tony stares at it for a moment and sighs. His shoes are already ruined, might as well take it a step further. He kneels down, trying not to think too deeply on something that squishes a little under his knee, and bends to look under the dumpster. “Here, kitty kitty,” he calls out again.

A pair of bright green eyes blink in the dim light. Tony can’t help but smile. “Hey, buddy,” he continues, soft and slow with instincts he never even knew he had. “It’s alright now. I’m going to help you out.”

Several minutes and a few scratches later, Tony stands again, a pathetically thin scrap of fur gently cradled in his arms. He looks down at himself, at the cat and the mud smeared all over himself, and sighs again. Pepper’s going to kill him for missing his speech, but there’s no way he can go back to the gala like this.

“JARVIS,” he calls out, knowing the AI will be able to hear him through the phone in his pocket, even over the rain. “Where’s the nearest animal shelter?” Tony might like cats, but he’s well aware of his own limitations. If he can’t even remember to feed himself, how is he supposed to take care of a cat?

“Shield Animal Shelter is two blocks to your north, sir,” JARVIS’s voice rings out primly. “Would you like directions?”

“Yeah.” Tony looks down at the precious bundle in his arms. “Let’s get this little guy taken care of.”

\---

A bell over the door jingles as Tony shoulders it open. He stands in the entrance for a moment, blinking rainwater out of his eyes and looking around. The place is smaller than he expected, but warm and well-lit. There’s no one at the front desk, but he can see through a doorway to the back where two dogs and a parakeet lounge in comfortably-sized cages.

“Hello?” Tony calls out, stepping forward to attempt to see the back room better. “Anybody here?”

There’s a loud clattering, then a blonde man stumbles through the doorway. He’s cursing under his breath and brushing dry kibble off of his shirt when he sees Tony waiting, and his eyes widen. “Oh, sorry about that, man! I didn’t hear the door. Just a sec.” Tony watches on in bemusement as the man fishes hearing aids out of his pocket and pops them into his hears. “Alright, how can I help you?”

Tony just nods down towards the lump in his arm, and the man’s eyes immediately fixates on it. “Found this little guy, didja? Well, here, bring him in the back, we’ll see what we can do to help him out.”

The man’s name is Clint, Tony learns over the next hour, he just volunteers at the shelter when the actual owner can’t work, the cat is actually a girl, and she’ll be just fine after a few weeks of food and rest. He also learns from several very vivid voicemails that Pepper is going to kill him.

“I’ve probably got to go,” he says with a grimace after the latest call comes in. He prefers his testicles where they are now, so making Pepper wait any longer is not a good idea.

“Alright,” Clint replies absentmindedly, his attention focused on wrapping a small cut the cat managed to accumulate on the streets. “Hey, you’re welcome come back to see this little lady sometime, if you want,” he offers just as Tony reaches the door.

Tony hesitates with one door on the handle, his eyes locked on the quietly dozing lump of fur. One eye slowly slides open to regard him, and Tony finds himself smiling. “Yeah, I think I will.”

\---

When Tony comes back the second time, barely a week later, there’s a fierce redhead behind the counter. Apparently Clint had told her she might be dropping by, because when she sees him she just motions him into the back. She introduces herself as Natasha and lets Tony play with the still-unnamed kitten for almost an hour.

\---

The third time it’s Clint again, and Tony helps him feed all the animals and give the dogs baths. It takes most of the afternoon, and Tony returns home sopping wet but grinning widely.

\---

The fourth time it’s Clint yet again (Tony is starting to doubt his insistence that he only volunteers there part time) and a nervous, bookish looking man that turns out to be an absolute genius. Tony absentmindedly dangles string for the kitten while he discusses quantum physics with Bruce.

\---

It continues like this, Tony taking at least one afternoon off every week to visit the shelter and the kitten. He meets the rest of the ragtag group of employees - Jane, who’s absolutely brilliant, her boyfriend Thor, the fantastically sarcastic Darcy, a darling woman named Peggy, Sam (he’s great with the birds), and “Bucky.” He’s yet, however, to meet the elusive owner of SHIELD. “He gets sick a lot,” Clint had explained with a shrug. “He’ll be back.”

“Well,” Tony says, one hand buried thick in the fur of their latest stray dog and smiling easily. “I can’t wait to meet him.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? Would anyone like this to continue?
> 
> Also, you can find me on tumblr at [anthonyfuckingstark](http://anthonyfuckingstark.tumblr.com) if you want!


End file.
